9/11: The Week Before

The attacks of September 11th, 2001 came as a huge surprise, shocking the world and immediately dominating the news around the world. Ten years later, the reverberations from that shock and the varying reactions to it continue to affect nearly everyone in ways large and small. While most people remember where they were on that day, it can be difficult to recall what else was happening in the days just before. I thought it would be interesting to go through the newswires and find photos of events taking place around the world during the week of September 3 to September 10, 2001. Some of the photos are directly related to the upcoming attacks, or the fallout that resulted, many have nothing at all to do with the attacks, but simply show glimpses of what was happening at that time. Gathered here is a time capsule of images taken during this week of September, one decade ago, before everything changed. This entry is part one of a three-part series on the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks -- (see also Part 2: The Day of the Attacks and Part 3: The Decade Since).

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein listens to Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz as they look at a model of the al-Amiria shelter on September 3, 2001 in Baghdad. The shelter was hit by two air-to-surface missiles during the 1991 Gulf war, and more than 400 of its occupants were killed.#

An Air France Concorde takes off from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy, north of Paris, on September 4, 2001, at the beginning of a new round of training flights to prepare pilots and flight instructors for the aircraft's possible return to commercial use. The Concorde fleet was grounded after an Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people. Normal commercial operations resumed in November of 2001. The Concorde was retired in October of 2003 due to high costs and low passenger numbers driven in part by the post-9/11 slowdown in air travel.#

A giant statue representing Aumism sect founder Gilbert Bourdin falls to its destruction following a controlled explosion in Castellane, southern France, on September 6, 2001. Local authorities had ordered the destruction of the 33-meter high (100-foot) statue built by Bourdin and his followers near the protected natural site around the Verdon Gorge. The statue had been the center of an eight year legal battle over the legitimacy of its building permits.#

President George W. Bush, surrounded by Washington, DC area Pop Warner League football players in the White House Rose Garden, watches his coin toss to decide which teams would kickoff games on opening day of the National Football League's regular season, on September 9, 2001.#

Unidentified female detainees of the Shelter Now International get into a car to leave the Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 8, 2001. Eight foreign aid workers appeared Saturday at the Taliban's highest court for the first time to plead their case on charges they preached Christianity in the devoutly Muslim nation. They said they were not guilty. Among the aid workers were Americans Heather Mercer, and Dayna Curry. After the attacks of 9/11 and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, the aid workers were held by the Taliban even as they retreated -- until they were freed by anti-Taliban forces in November of 2001.#

Security guards stand outside the ruling Taliban's Supreme Court buildings in Kabul on September 8, 2001. Eight foreign aid workers, on trial for promoting Christianity in Islamic Afghanistan, appeared for the first time in court since their arrest five weeks ago saying they were innocent of proselytizing.#

Sgt. First Class James Freeman speaks with a potential U.S. Army recruit on September 6, 2001 at a recruiting station in New York City. The U.S. Army announced that it was experiencing it's most successful recruiting year since 1997, having met it's recruiting goals for the 2001 fiscal year one month early partly due to the recent economic downturn that was affecting the labor market.#

A satellite image of the Pentagon Building near Washington, District of Columbia, taken on September 7, 2001 by the IKONOS satellite. Four days later, American Airlines Flight 77 would be crashed into the western wall (top right in this photo), killing 189 aboard the flight and on the ground.#

A group of young Iranians, wearing special head-to-toe outfit in accordance with the Islamic dress code, stage a ceremonial show in celebration of the anniversary of Women's Day in Iran, which coincides with the birth anniversary of Saint Fatemeh Zahra, Prophet Mohammad's daughter, in Tehran, on September 9, 2001.#

King Carl Gustaf of Sweden reacts after a young man threw a strawberry cake in his face during a royal visit to the southwestern city of Varberg, Sweden, on September 5, 2001. The king was not hurt. The 16-year old cake thrower was wrestled to the ground by bodyguards and immediately detained by police. The motive was unknown.#

Aviatrix Carlene Mendieta taxis to the runway on September 5, 2001 before departing Westchester County Airport in New York in an antique aircraft beginning her three-week flight in re-creating Amelia Earhart's 1928 record-setting flight across America and back. The flight, landed in 23 cities along the historic route and covered approximately 5,500 miles at an average speed of 82 mph. Mendieta's trip was grounded for more than 10 days after the FAA closed airspace following the attacks of 9/11.#

A woman raises her hands in despair on September 9, 2001, as others try to revive a woman shot by a security agent in Jos, Nigeria. Heavily armed soldiers struggled to maintain order Sunday, conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints in the central Nigerian city of Jos where dozens have died in Muslim-Christian violence.#

Pupils at a school in Baghdad, Iraq, receive books and supplies from their teacher on their first day back in school on September 8, 2001. More than 5 million Iraqi students returned to school Saturday, as government measures forcing parents to meet many of the costs of keeping their children in the classroom came into force.#

A lunch menu fails to lure customers on September 3, 2001 at a New York City restaurant. With the recent slowdown in the economy, many New York City restaurants, which once seemed impervious to economic slowdowns, have begun to see business drop as much as 30 percent.#

Malaysian dancers perform during the opening of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur, on September 8, 2001. Malaysia is hosting 5,000 athletes and officials for the 21st SEA Games from September 8 to 17, 2001.#

Terrified children are shielded by parents and RUC police officers as they walk past a burnt out car only minutes before a Loyalists pipe bomb exploded nearby on the Ardoyne Road in North Belfast, Northern Ireland, on September 5, 2001. The Loyalists pipe bomb injured a policeman and police dog during the morning trip to the school for a third day.#

Tens of thousands of people celebrate at the reception for the Yugoslav national basketball team in downtown Belgrade, on September 10, 2001. The team received a hero's welcome after winning the European Basketball Championship against host Turkey.#

Two Afghan traders lead their camels down a rocky road on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 5, 2001. Afghanistan's infrastructure remains in tatters after years of fighting between rival political and religious factions in the troubled country.#

Senger Dustin, a gunner of the U.S. CH-47 Chinook from the Aviation Regiment, part of Task Force Harvest (TFH) looks back as the helicopter flies over the village of Brodec, some 40 km west from the capital Skopje, on September 10, 2001. NATO troops collected further weapons from ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Macedonia on Sunday while the Skopje government and the European Union appeared at odds over the future role of the alliance in the Balkan state.#

An Albanian soldier looks at a pile of destroyed anti-personnel mines in Mjekes, 60kms southeast of the capital Tirana, September 10, 2001. Albania is destroying an average of 9,000 anti-personnel mines per day from its excess stockpile under a project as part of NATO's Partnership for Peace Trust Fund.#

A skateboarder rides in the bowl on September 5, 2001 at the Millennium Skate Park in Brooklyn borough of New York City. The new skate park cost nearly $1 million to construct and is part of a growing resurgence of parks designed for skateboarders and bikers after most were closed in the 1980s for insurance concerns.#

Turkish police assist a woman injured after a woman suicide bomber killed herself and two police officers in an attack on a police station in central Istanbul, turkey, on September 10, 2001. More than 20 people were injured, three of them seriously, in what Istanbul Mayor Erol Cakir described as a "treacherous attack on the police".#

The village of Sao Jorge da Beira, Portugal, 300 km from Lisbon, is surrounded by forest fire at the earlier hours of September 11, 2001. Hundreds of firefighters battled to control forest fires raging in mountainous parts of northern and central Portugal on Tuesday, officials said. A late-summer heatwave combined with strong westerly winds and dry weather fuelled a spate of blazes in heavily wooded areas in recent days during an otherwise wet year with fewer fires than normal.#

U.S. President George W. Bush greets the students of Justina Elementary School in Jacksonville, Florida, on September 10, 2001, during a Leadership Forum on the importance of reading programs for children.#

On September 5, 2001, Julien Menichini was in the middle of a trip to New York City, photographing landmarks up and down Manhattan. Here is a view of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, as he prepared to ride up to the observation deck. Original here.#

A view of New York City skyscrapers, with the top of the World Trade Center North Tower at left. Photo taken on September 5, 2001 from the 107th floor observation deck of the South Tower. Original here.#

At 8:41 p.m. on September 10, 2001, these two men later identified by the FBI as 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta (Left-Rear) and Abdulaziz al-Omari, (Right-Foreground) were photographed by a security camera at a Fast Green ATM money machine in South Portland, Maine. Only 12 hours after these photos were taken, Atta and al-Omari would fly American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.#

Supporters of the presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto took to the streets of Jakarta, clashing violently with riot police, after his loss to incumbent President Joko Widodo was announced on Wednesday.